The FWC has waved away as "disingenuous" an employer's claim that it would be left with no employees if it offered award-level entitlements in a proposed deal, observing that various guarantees and undertakings are no substitute for the detail needed to properly conduct a BOOT assessment.
A spike in consumer price inflation, confirmed by the ABS today, might combine with labour shortages to put pressure on wage rises, which remain near historic lows.
The FWC has warned employers that the "clock is ticking" for Work Choices "zombie" agreements in rebuffing a large employer's bid to keep a 2008 flat-rate deal operating until May or June, coinciding with the 10-year anniversary of its nominal expiry.
A construction supply company's bid to suspend protected action for a fortnight so it can better engage with picketing union members has fallen flat in the FWC.
McDonald's has been hit with a second Federal Court case over its alleged failure to provide paid rest breaks, with a RAFFWU-backed class action claiming thousands of past and present workers are potentially owed millions over the "systemic" issue.
The IEU says it will call out non-government schools over a widespread practice of engaging staff and others in key co-curricular roles as "volunteers", after a Queensland college back paid more than $2 million and entered into an enforceable undertaking with the FWO.
The FSU says it will sue the National Australia Bank after a survey of more than 1000 middle managers revealed widespread excessive unpaid work and "unbearable levels of stress and anxiety", but the bank says there is no such expectation of extra hours.
The TWU's in-principle three-year agreement with Australia Post subsidiary StarTrack will deliver annual wage rises that match CPI increases in the second and third years of the deal if inflation exceeds 3%.
